GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — On a Thursday afternoon a modest crowd of people were enjoying the ambiance of a former fire station turned into a baseball-themed brewery, that sells some of West Michigan's most popular pizza. But even at The Mitten Brewing Company, now a staple on the west side of Grand Rapids, business has been slow, and co-owner Chris Andrus says mother nature is to blame.
"It never fails that the winter storms always hit us on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday. That never happens on a slow Monday, so it always cripples us where we can least afford to endure it," Andrus said.
The Mitten put a call out on social media Thursday morning saying in part, "Friends, the past few weeks have been brutal for the service industry. Your favorite restaurants are hurting. If you dine out this weekend, please consider dining LOCAL. It matters more than you know."
After that post, 13 ON YOUR SIDE paid a visit to The Mitten to find out exactly how hard they had been hit after last weekend's storm.
"I would say last Friday we did about a tenth of the business we normally do. It was apparent right away that the amount of business we needed to achieve on Friday was not going to happen, so we shut it down early. We made sure our staff got home safely before the worst of the stuff hit," Andrus said.
"By the time Friday happened, before the first flake had fallen, the dye was already cast with everybody. They knew a big storm was coming. Everyone had already done their grocery shopping. They were bound and determined to stay home."
Andrus says these gaps in business hurt even more as restaurants and other small businesses continue to try to rebound from the damage done by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The shadow of it is still over all of us in small businesses, the biggest problem being the resulting inflation that we're confronting now. Everything's more expensive. That hits everybody and affects how often they go out, and where they spend their money," he said.
"You know what? We're still here. We're still fighting through it, and we still rely on people giving us their business, so we're out here trying to earn it every day."
Andrus hopes the social media post, which had received dozens of shares and hundreds of reactions when this story was written, will serve as a rallying cry for the community to support its 'mom and pop' businesses.
"If you've got a favorite establishment, your places in your neighborhood that you feel make your neighborhood special, now's the time to get out and support them. Now that the weather's clearing a little bit, we would love to see a great gesture this weekend to help put us back on our feet," he said.
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